


Dangan Ronpa - Violence Saga

by halffabrikat



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Major Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-04-30 05:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14489682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halffabrikat/pseuds/halffabrikat
Summary: A Dangan Ronpa story featuring an (almost) fully original cast, several years in the making. Which is to say that I started planning it several years ago, and then dropped it for a looong while. Until, hopefully, now!Welcome to a new Mutual Killing Game - the Belly of the Beast, located inside Mercy's Watch Academy, situated precariously atop a cliff's edge somewhere in the remote corners of Japan.All sins are forgiven.





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

* * *

" _Look me in the eye, Kouki. Are you trying to tell me you played no part in this?_ _Will you still insist you're innocent?_ _"_

* * *

 

I didn't so much _wake up_ as drag myself awake through the figurative dirt and rubble of sleep, kicking and screaming. Or hell, that's sure what it felt like as I came back to the waking world, blinking at the morning light coming through my window in near-delirium. My brain flirted with various curse words to mumble out in pain, eventually 'deciding' on an indistinct grumbling noise while I groped madly around at the writing desk beside my bed for a painkiller. Yet, a bottle isn't what I'd blindly grasped for first.

Paper. In my rush, I grasped at the damn thing's corner a little _too_ roughly, and tore off a decent chunk before I'd fully come to. Sure enough, that got me scrambling to consciousness, fighting through the morning migraine for my pair of glasses. Before I'd put them on, a symbol at the top of the letter was still distinct enough to recognize, even with the fuzziness: an angel, holding a bouquet of flowers. The sign of Mercy's Watch.

Anxiety hit me on all fronts like a sack of rocks, while I pressed my glasses into place. Was it an acceptance letter, or a very polite denial...? I shut my eyes tightly, afraid to face the worst possibility, before taking in a deep breath and - reluctantly - opening my eyes to scan it over. Handwritten, presumably from the Dean himself, with the day's date printed along the top: February 26th.

 

 

> _Dear_ _Himada Kouki._
> 
> Your ticket to enter into Mercy's Watch Academy under random lottery has been drawn from a hat, as one of two winners among over fifty-thousand potential applicants.
> 
> We at Mercy's Watch are pleased to announce that you have been accepted, due to your impeccable grades and lack of a disciplinary record at your previous school.
> 
> Consider this an additional level of vetting, which you have now passed - you are truly remarkable, Kouki. Fortunate, and pristine.
> 
> When you return to school in April for your first term of the year, it will be among the sixtieth class to attend Mercy's Watch, the most prestigious school for those with unusual talents in the world. As a first, we will be opening our Exchange Program, and as such this class will include students from around the world who've proven themselves worthy.
> 
> Please refer to the included guide for directions, school rules, the names of faculty members, as well as miscellaneous information that may prove useful.
> 
> If you have any further questions, please send another letter, or contact me through the webpage for Mercy's Watch.
> 
> _Sincerely, Kuro Amadeus._

 

 

I couldn't possibly express my elation - or the subsequent confusion I'd suffered. For a _start_ , they actually went through my grades and school record, even after the random draw? I wouldn't call my grades  _impeccable_ , either. As for the record, sure, there wouldn't be one - the only kid I ever needed to beat up wasn't the type to snitch. Still, it kind of confused me.

For a second, the hell kinda name is _Amadeus_? Oh, screw it. Shouldn't matter anyway, not like Mister Kuro's anyone I'd need to talk to often. I've never been much of a troublemaker.

For a _third_ , two winners? It's not like the contest's details had listed any other, but hell - I kind of wanted to be the only one. Things would've felt more special that way. Then again, I tell myself, chances are the other kid's thinking the exact same thing, wherever and whoever he is.

With that situation firmly placed into the _handled_ pile, I finally took something for my migraine, and laid myself back down to get a few more hours of sleep. Just a few. I've got time to whip out my phone and text my friends (and my sister, come to think of it) when I'm out of dreamland. As I was forming a little bit of an impromptu list in my head, the pillow started to feel _awfully_ comfortable...

 

It wasn't even a minute later that I'd fallen asleep, dreaming of all the good times I was sure to have. Just a few more months before I'm in Mercy's Watch...


	2. Chapter 2

It was only about three hours later that I was rudely awoken by the sound of my phone buzzing, with all the grace of a hoard of gnats. Every little bit of noise was intensified, 'til they'd hit a fever pitch and triggered another headache. Or, maybe more accurately, another headache was already coming on - and the noise just hit me at the worst goddamn time it could.

With one hand I grabbed for my phone, with the other, my bottle of pills. I'd fallen asleep with my glasses still on (whoops) and managed to luck out, having not rolled over and broken them while I slept. All the pings were from a flurry of ten messages in a row, all from one person. Some guy I'd met online a couple years back, who tried to tell me he was French, about two days before he told me he was American, which was two days before he told me he was Japanese, which was two days before he tried to tell me he was secretly a girl.

That was right about when I gave up taking anything he said about himself seriously, before I reminded him we'd been on a video chat the day beforehand. That apparently broke him, and he said he'd _come clean_ to me. I still avoid just taking his word for it.

 

> **maskeurade** : dude ur not gonna believethis
> 
> **maskeurade** : i got a letter back from them
> 
> **maskeurade** : the mw people
> 
> **maskeurade** : the same people who signed onthe titty lady
> 
> **maskeurade** : autocorrect
> 
> **maskeurade** : titor
> 
> **maskeurade** : like
> 
> **maskeurade** : yknow the time travel guy
> 
> **maskeurade** : dunno whichof my sick skills they grabbed me for tho

 

I groaned, audibly, before popping something for the day's second headache and getting to tapping away.

 

> **bleedred** : Probably how much you bullshit

 

He must've been sitting right on the draw, because he sent something right back to me before I even finished writing another message.

 

> **maskeurade** : idunno what a fabulist is but thats what theyve got me down as
> 
> **bleedred** : That means bullshitter, dude
> 
> **maskeurade** : o

 

I'm not too ashamed to admit that I had to search the word online, first, but I really wanted the chance to shove something in his face. I told him I'd be gone a bit, probably running off to shower - and immediately tabbed over to my other friends, and started copying and pasting the same message about how I'd been accepted. Most people just gave me the usual round of congratulations, the occasional question about what exactly I did to deserve it, (which I struggled to not take to heart) but one of them stuck out to me.

Somebody I'd been friends with since I was six. Yuuki. Somebody who, usually, had a habit of being a hell of a lot more verbose than this. Before my eyes even skipped over what he actually _said_ , the short length of the reply caught me off-guard.

 

> **strugglingsophos** : You too?

 

_You too?_

My eyes scanned over the message, a good half-dozen times, before the implication of it actually set in. I was afraid I'd have to leave everyone behind, but - I'm going into things with a borderline blood brother. If I was ecstatic before, I might as well have been over the moon, now. My fingers tapped away at record speed.

 

> **bleedred** : What'd they get you in as
> 
> **bleedred:** Writer?
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : Not quite anything as simple as 'Writer'. Graphomaniac.
> 
> **bleedred** : That sounds kinda mean
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : It's a mostly inapplicable medical condition, referring to an excessive compulsion to write without end.
> 
> **bleedred** : That's wrong?
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : It also, typically, includes devolving into nonsense. That is where it becomes false, in my case - my style of writing is absolutely perfect, no matter how long the text eventually becomes.
> 
> **bleedred** : Oh
> 
> **bleedred** : Right

 

I messaged the last person - my sister - getting nothing besides a " _that's nice, dear_ " in response. Not sure what I'd expected, from her. Finally, I lounged myself back over, and fumbled with the letter to find the guide that the letter had mentioned. Directions up the mountain, tips for what to bring, a map of the school itself, a list of names of faculty missing.

An odd thing that they happened to exclude? Anything on the other students already approved for this school, not even their 'Ultimate' titles that they'd been given. I just sort of assumed that the lottery-winners would be some of the last approved. Do they... want it to be a surprise? How'd Finn (as he was calling himself last) know that that girl was in it?

Something told me that I wouldn't be finding much else out until I was actually at the doors. I sighed, laying myself back in bed once again, watching my ceiling fan - before another buzz on my phone.

 

> **strugglingsophos** : I'm glad you're going to be there with me.
> 
> **bleedred** : You too, dude

 

These were about to be the longest two months of my life, weren't they?


	3. Chapter 3

Hours turned into days, which turned into weeks. And just as I expected, they were the _slowest_ weeks of my life. I tried to keep myself entertained, though - I spent most of it messaging Yuuki, sharing the tidbits we'd picked up and heard over the grapevine. He was very careful to note that everything he gave me was speculation, but the internet seemed pretty unanimous that the Ashita girl was part of it.

Finn must've just read it off of a forum, somewhere, and taken it as fact.

Yuuki wrote up a truly massive list of people that he thought might have been accepted, practically anyone who'd been in the news for the past two years and was roughly of 'young adult' age. He even went out of his way to translate a few foreign sources, in case they'd been part of the exchange program. I told him it was a _bit_ excessive, but hell if I didn't appreciate the effort he put into it. Eventually, I _did_ cave and ask him for a summarized version. His version of... summarized was to cut it down to just the titles he expected they'd be given.

It just stretched on and on. My eyes glazed over as I scanned it, jumping from title to title, one after another. It was far too many to properly gauge each of them, but I still caught a few while I looked down the list.

  * Mason
  * Getaway Driver
  * Detective
  * Plumber
  * Telemarketer
  * Chemist
  * Cashier
  * Mathematician
  * Violinist
  * Actor
  * Lawyer
  * Chef
  * Dancer
  * Officer



Something told me a lot of these were off the mark. There was easily over a hundred different titles he'd proposed, covering somewhere in the range of four-hundred people with all of the redundancies and overlap in job description. He must've spent the past few weeks just _writing_ all of this, let alone the research necessary. I still had a couple weeks to kill, but this was simply too much.

 

> **bleedred** : Dude, I appreciate it a lot but you kinda went overboard  
>  **strugglingsophos** : I did not want to risk being proven incorrect when we arrived. I needed to account for every single eventuality, no matter how fringe, as I could not forgive myself for an error. Imagine if we arrived unprepared.
> 
> **bleedred** : On second thought, I might like the surprise
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : Understood. I'm not insulted by this tergiversation. After all, it didn't take an exceptional amount of time to prepare the enumeration.

 

...What exactly was an exceptional amount of time for him, I wondered? He answered me before I'd even managed to ask.

 

> **strugglingsophos** : Only about fifteen minutes.

 

In all the years I'd known him, I'd never taken him for a liar. It seems like he's somehow gotten even _faster_ at writing, recently. Had he been practicing, trying to make sure that he could live up to his title? It seemed like the obvious explanation, but... what if he'd been hiding his top speed this entire time, and took the 'Ultimate Graphomaniac' title as an excuse to let loose?

 

> **bleedred** : Wow, I'm uh
> 
> **bleedred** : Very impressed
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : Please save the reverence and genuflection for some of the paragons of aptitude that we might encounter. The opening day is in just shy of a fortnight, isn't it?

 

I'm not sure why he went out of his way to ask me. Maybe he just wanted me to feel like I'm having some input in the conversation, because he clearly had it committed to memory better than I did.

 

> **bleedred** : Yeah, pretty sure
> 
> **bleedred** : Are you as excited as I am
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : I am virtually feverish at the thought.
> 
> **strugglingsophos** : I can't wait to see you again.

 

Another message I - at first - merely blinked down at, a _bit_ concerned. Had it really been that long since we'd last met in person? Was it long enough to justify that kind of wording? But, soon after, he'd sent something else.

 

> **strugglingsophos** : I want to see what kind of person you've become, what kind of person you _will_ become when surrounded by so many artisans. I have the highest possible hopes for you.

 

I sent a half-hearted 'thanks' to that, suddenly feeling _wildly_ awkward. It was probably just his verbosity getting way, way ahead of him, I tried to tell myself. Soon after, I told myself that I'd probably avoid egging him on any further, and that the next time we spoke - it'd be outside Mercy's Watch. With that, I set my phone aside and returned to packing the last of my things. I wasn't one to procrastinate until the absolute last minute.

Most of the time. Thirteen days later, I was still organizing my bag full of clothes while on the bus heading up the mountain. I'm clearly not the Ultimate _Luck_ , because my carriage car got caught about halfway up the mountain for a solid hour - which, I guess, just gave me more time to finish folding clothes. When I finally stepped out into the courtyard of Mercy's Watch, I stared dead up at the gold plaque resting over the broad double-doors. The rest of the school was reminiscent of a yellow and silver chapel, but almost comically oversized.

 

I had just enough time to read the inscription on the plaque before everything went dark.

* * *

**All sins are forgiven.**

* * *

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing to greet me when I awoke was the feeling of cold metal against the side of my face, and I couldn't see a damn thing even when I opened my eyes. I tried to strain my head to get my bearings, but something gave too much resistance. Just then, the _smell_ hit me. Dried blood, just about covering the skin around my face. I nearly screamed, before a hand clasped in front of my mouth, and a gruff voice I didn't recognize rung out. From the sound of it, he must've been muffling himself with something - and we couldn't have been inside anything bigger than the average closet.

"Hold the _fuck_ on. We don't know if it's clear out there, yet. So just... stay put, okay?"

I was _absolutely_ not about to agree to this, struggling against it in any way that I could. I tried to push against the metal floor, the wall, _anything_ , but my hands and feet'd been bound with what felt like a half-dozen zip ties. My last ditch effort, my plan-Z went into action, and I bit down on the hand covering my mouth. Hard. The unknown man let whatever was muffling him drop, before he howled in pain. The noise must've attracted attention from outside, because the door flung open, bathing the two of us in bright light - and the one who'd opened the door stepped forward.

Even in my bleary state, I could recognize him anywhere: Yuuki, clad in a two-piece, dark red tuxedo, his long, dull blue hair against it. And, far more pressingly, he was carrying a gun at his side, slotted into a makeshift belt. In one smooth motion, he flipped the weapon out and aimed it for my captor - yet, even still, his eyes settled on me. He was far more terse in person than over text, while speaking to the unknown man.

"Off."

The man put both his hands into the air, the light illuminating a cheeky smirk on his face as he pushed past Yuuki and into the room behind him that I could just _barely_ make out some of. A hallway in a dull orange, with the floor made up of the same steel grate that the side of my face was pressed into. As Yuuki returned the gun to its place on his belt, he began to undo my bindings, and I questioned -

"What the hell is going on?!"

His eyes didn't leave the zip ties while he worked, but he at least tried to answer me.

"Everyone awoke, different rooms."

Yuuki must've seen my mouth open, and preempted the question - that this _clearly_ wasn't a full room.

"One more student than there were rooms. Someone was..."

He spotted the dried blood covering my face, and concern struck his. Yuuki shot a hand into one of his suit pockets, bringing out a damp cloth to wipe the signs of red away, before he finished the last of my ties. A second later, I hopped to my feet, balancing with a hand against one of the closet walls, and he finished what he was saying.

" _Ill-fated_."

I scoffed, shaking my head, before trying to peer into the hallway behind Yuuki for any sign of the man who'd kept me here. I never even had a chance to get a good look at him, only catching the sight of a jet black buzzcut and green jacket before he'd left. After I'd caught my breath, I shook my head, remembering something that he'd said -

"He said it wasn't 'clear' out there. What happened?"

"Few people got together. Brawl. The Dean won."

 _The Dean_?

Yuuki continued, through my surprise, and he gestured off leftwards, where my captor must've gone off to.

"Ebicha - the one who'd brought you here - lost. Stormed away, came here."

I was starting to put things together, but I still had more questions, and Yuuki had a far, far better grasp of the situation than I did. And so, I continued to rattle things off at him, growing more and more unstable by the second.

"Where are we? Where'd you get the gun?! What the hell's even happening?!"

As I progressed into genuine _panic_ , Yuuki set his hands onto my shoulders, trying to calm me. Somehow, he managed to - his slower, patient-sounding voice was a bastion of stability, and I couldn't have asked for a better one. One by one, he took my questions in order. Or, at least, he tried to...

"We're inside Mercy's Watch, Kouki. The Duelist loaned me one of - "

He was interrupted by the sound of a loud _crash_ , courtesy of a large monitor smashing down through the ceiling of the hall behind him, attached to an arm-like metal mount. Over the next few seconds, the same sound echoed down the hall multiple times, with different points on the first floor apparently suffering the same event, some distance away. I was just about to panic yet _again_ , but Yuuki reassured me, grasping my shoulder even tighter.

Our silence was palpable, the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. We stared at the blank, black monitor, my eyes drifting from it towards the rubble - broken tiles - that littered the floor beneath it. The hole in the ceiling that it had created was too covered in loose wires and piping to see through with _any_ clarity whatsoever. Eventually, the monitor began to flicker to life. At first, it displayed nothing but static.

I wish it stayed that way.

The static began to clear, bit by bit, revealing... something. It could've been a person in a bear costume, or an oversized doll. White and black, split down the middle, with a red slash for its left eye. And it was tapping a balled, smooth hand against the camera. When it appeared content, the thing's voice rung out through almost invisibly small speakers on the side of the monitor. It was shrill, almost painfully so, and felt unfitting for it.

"Hey, hey! Is this thing on?! Hit the mike check, one, two, three, six...! Wait a minute, gimme another try on that one!"

Yuuki and I shared a dumbfounded look, and my jaw hung open. I was about to ask _what the fuck_ before it started speaking again, and Yuuki snapped his fingers to draw my attention back to it.

"One, two, three, four! All incoming students should get to the front door! It's time for the opening ceremony!"

I was past the point of asking too many more questions, and Yuuki motioned down the left hall, signalling where the front doors must've been. I almost stumbled off that way, prepared to get this over with, but he pulled me back - the monitor was still active, the bear was still speaking.

"I want those behinds in a line, stat! We've got so many pretty faces 'round here, and I'd hate to do something about all those no-shows!"

The two of us shared another _look_ as the monitor shut off, in stunned, total silence. Yuuki made the first movement, pulling me along by the shoulder down the hall, passing by hanging display filled with trophies along the way, as well as a few more doors into other rooms. I had just enough time for my eyes to catch the sight of the symbols on the signs over the doors.

A book over one, a bowling ball over another, and a dumbbell over the last. If they were representing what I thought they were, this half of the first floor was _eclectic_ in its subject matter.

As we turned the last corner, I almost landed _smack_ dab into someone's back. It seemed like the rest of the student body had already beat us here, and had now become a vague crowd amassed in the entrance room. I counted a good twelve other people, only a few of whom I'd recognized. The man who'd found me before I'd awoken - Ebicha - was standing alone in the upper left-hand corner of the entrance room, on the side of the door - with a good eight layers of metal bars crossed over it, rendering it thoroughly impossible to open from this side, or the other.

Hanging in front of it was another monitor, currently offline. There wasn't any sign of more rubble or destruction, so it might've arrived some other way, or it, hypothetically, was _supposed_ to be there, as weird a place as it was.

My eyes set on the pair of students across from him, pulled by the sight of someone else I knew. Finn, currently in the midst of trying to chat up an older-looking woman with dark hair. She was wearing flowing blue robes with a tall collar, which almost seemed to _glow_ wherever the shadows should've covered them. I couldn't make out anything he was saying, due to all of the worried chatter throughout the group, but it felt fairly easy to guess the gist of it.

And yet, it all fell dead silent the very moment that monitor clicked to life. Not even the slightest murmur passed through the crowd. The bear - Monokuma, as it called itself - appeared on the screen, arms lax at its side.

"It's beary nice to meet you all! Good morning, please stand and bow!"

Next to nobody did as they were told. A few people shared a nervous laugh, but all - even the silent ones - remained completely still, except for a single person. A girl broke away from the small group she'd made herself a part of, strolling to the center of the room. She wore a faded deerstalker, and a dull, gunmetal grey uniform, that looked something like a local police station's, although any defining features like a badge were removed. Once she'd taken her place, she did... exactly as the bear asked, giving a humble bow.

There didn't appear to be any cameras in the room, yet Monokuma still appeared to take note of the act when he continued.

"At least _somebody_ has respect for her headmaster. Moving on!"

Static burst on the monitor for a half-second, and when it cleared, Monokuma held an impossibly long paper between his hands - paws, clearly trailing far, far behind him and into the darkness.

"The students here are humanity's future. To better safeguard that future, they must all remain here, living out their lives until graduation day has arrived. We just can't risk having someone fall off the mountain and get eaten by bees, can we...?"

A student with a thick, but practically implacable accent interjected - just from the look of him, I could tell he'd arrived from parts unknown as part of the exchange program. Yet, he _did_ speak the language fairly well.

"The chance of that happening is astronomically low - "

Suddenly, he was cut off, grasping at his neck with both hands. The two students beside him backed away in fear, as he coughed and hacked, straining to get any breathable air. He fell to one knee, still struggling, as Monokuma returned to being in charge of the conversation.

"The headmaster is _speaking_ , G. Will there be any more interruptions?"

'G' shook his head, and moments later, his hands fell away from his neck. He was once again capable of breathing clearly, but he could no longer remain standing with what energy that'd been wasted. He collapsed, still conscious, but now as silent as the rest of the horrified crowd, while the bear spoke.

"Good! It's time for our rules! For **one** , don't interrupt the headmaster. For **two** , don't even try getting out! There's only one way out, and that's through graduation! And I know what you're thinking..."

Monokuma tossed the paper aside, feigning a girlish voice.

"Dear headmaster, our gracious king, the bear-savior who has created this future... how does someone graduate?"

He returned to his normal voice, sounding - somehow - even more childish than he had before, uncannily so, for the subject matter.

"Take that future into your own hands! Show the world you don't need anybody else! Kill another student, and get off scott-free!"

The tension in the room was at an absolute fever-pitch. Nobody dared move, nobody dared speak - a far more primal fear had swallowed us all, compared to the surreal choking fit we'd watched a man suffer. Monokuma seemed... unamused. Maybe even disappointed, with the silence.

"What? You all look like I just drowned your goldfish. Where's the scheming? Where's the plotting? Go on! Kill!"

More silence.

"...Ohhh. Right. Can't get away with it if you're all in one room... unless you killed everybody..."

He stopped, visibly rethinking things, before waving everyone away.

"Go! Away with you! Disperse! You've uh... all got rooms on the basement floor, just take the stairs down."

It might as well have been an afterthought. The screen blinked a few times, before turning to static, and then going offline. Something in me kicked in, and I found my voice before anyone else did.

"L-let's get - "

I still stuttered through it, though.

"- A move on. Right? No... no killing?"

Several pairs of eyes were set on me, and I was overcome with the desire to be _just about anywhere else_. I motioned with one hand for Finn to come along with me, before scrambling over backwards in my attempt to book it right the hell out of there. I would've spilled out on the floor and only added to the embarrassment of the situation, if Yuuki hadn't caught me halfway down and stood me back up.

I muttered a 'thank you' and was on my way, bolting down the halls until I'd found the staircase Monokuma'd mentioned. Proper introductions could come later, but right now? I wanted to be alone, and I wanted to scream into a pillow for multiple hours straight. The basement floor opened into a fork of two hallways, one for girls, and one for boys. The former was bathed in an ugly pink light, and the latter a baby-blue one. Over the doors, there were no _names_ listed - only little drawings of the students. Quickly, I found the one that most resembled me, and stood in front of it.

There wasn't any doorknob or lock as far as I could see, only a welcoming mat on the floor in front of it. Tentatively, I pressed more of my weight into it, and the door promptly slid down into the floor, revealing the room ahead. It looked uncomfortably similar to my own room at home, but I was far too unfocused to give much thought to it. Everything else was smothered by terror.

Once I'd entered, the door slammed shut behind me, and I collapsed into bed with my face pressed into the pillow. I removed my glasses and set them on the nightstand, tried _really, really hard_ to ignore the Monokuma lamp already there, and pulled the covers over myself. I felt like a little kid again, hiding from the monsters I just couldn't see. Slowly, painfully slowly, sleep claimed me.

Restless, dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Waking up was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Blackness gave way to the sight of my old room, and for a moment I was able to pass off the events of the past day as nothing more than a bad dream. A really, really long bad dream. I groped around for my glasses, and my hand smacked against the side of the lamp on the desk - unceremoniously throwing it over, where it clattered to the floor.

There must've been something _inside_ the damn, disturbing thing, because it made a much louder noise than I would've expected. Something like a metallic rattling sound, and I couldn't believe that the walls could suppress all of it. My screw-up had to have woken someone else up, right? I waited, anticipating the sound of someone banging on the other side of my wall, someone yelling curses at me for the noise.

And yet, nothing.

I took it as a tiny shred of good luck, as I put my glasses back on, and got myself dressed. The bear, apparently, took it upon himself to stock the room's closet with multiple copies of the outfit I'd been wearing when I entered. A beige-brown hoodie, and a white short-sleeve shirt beneath that. Well, I guess it wasn't too expensive to duplicate. No skin off Monokuma's back. If it... has skin.

I stepped up to the door, and watched as it slid down into the floor. My stare drifted upwards, spotting someone leaning against the wall dead across from my door. Someone a little hard to miss. A bright red jacket, and something of a black suit beneath it. Beyond that, he looked pretty... _jacked_. His clothes weren't exactly revealing, but just from body shape alone, I could tell that he could probably punch my head clean off if he wanted to.

Before I could say anything, he opened his mouth -

"I'd like to give you my sincere apologies."

His voice was oddly ill-fitting for his size and shape. It was _deep_ , sure, but it was also clean and smooth, the kind you sometimes hear described as a perfect fit for radio. It was sort of captivating, I have to admit.

"I argued against allowing Ebicha into the school. He is of a criminal element."

He must have noticed my confusion, when he implied he had some part in the decision making process for the school. The man took a step forward towards me, and extended his hand. Without even thinking, I grabbed for it and gave it a healthy shake. I looked down and watched the motion, feeling just how much force he could've put into it, and chose not to. He could've snapped my wrist without much effort.

"I should introduce myself. Kuro, Amadeus."

I looked up, slowly piecing things together in my head. My acceptance letter came not just from the Dean, but a fellow student? For once, I managed to preempt what someone was about to say.

"The _Ultimate Dean_."

Amadeus smiled to me, and released my hand. I felt a twinge of pride radiating from him, that his reputation had so truly preceded him. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I only remembered because of the acceptance letter that he'd sent. I knew there was a _lot_ to ask of him, and I rushed into some of my questions right off the bat.

"The Dean is another student? Who are all of these people? That can't be our real Headmaster, right?"

Sure. Some of it felt weak, but Amadeus appeared patient enough - all he gave me was another kind smile, but it soon after faltered. I thought I'd managed to be just trite enough to crack him, before he spoke.

"I'm very sorry, once again. But I'll have to take these out of order."

He held up two fingers, signalling the first he was addressing.

"Everyone inside of this building is another student with an Ultimate talent."

One finger, rather than two.

"I am not an exception to this."

Finally, three.

"Monokuma is _absolutely_ not the Headmaster of this school. I wish I knew more about him, but I'm afraid I don't know any more than you do. His two appearances on monitors are all the information I have."

Something occurred to me, just then. He had to have noticed, because he motioned for me to spill it.

"Who _is_ the Headmaster, then?"

"Oh, simple. The Headmaster would be - "

He froze.

I saw a single bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. Anxiously, he set a hand against his left temple, rubbing into it. Amadeus's mouth _moved_ , sure, as if he was trying to voice something, but either nothing came out or I couldn't hear it. I blinked my confusion away, and asked for him to repeat himself.

His anxiety faded away, and, with gusto, the exact same thing happened. Silence.

Visibly baffled, I stammered out a half-hearted _huh_ -sound, only briefly relieved to hear my own voice, proof that I hadn't spontaneously gone deaf. Concern once again flickered onto his face -

"Is something the matter, Kouki?"

I know it sounds silly, given the situation, but I knew that I was about to sound crazy.

"I can't hear that name."

He blinked.

"...Elaborate, please."

At first, I just repeated myself again, and I pressed a balled fist to the side of my head, feeling the beginning of another headache starting to come on. My pills were left in my room, and reflexively, I started to grasp in the direction of my door. Even still, I continued.

"Everything else is _fine_ , and I see your mouth moving, but I can't hear it. It's like I go deaf, for _just_ that name."

Seeing Amadeus at a genuine loss for words was legitimately uncomfortable. It ran so counter to the way he carried himself, or, at the very least, the perception of him that I had. One conversation and one letter, and I felt like I already knew him well enough to know that this didn't happen often.

He managed to piece himself together, and gave me his main theory.

"Monokuma clearly has done something to our bodies, giving him some level of control over our senses. I feel it's safe to assume that this is also responsible for Gustav's oddly convenient - for the bear - bout of choking."

I didn't interrupt him, but I did try to make a mental note of this, as terrifying as it was. And a secondary, much less terrifying note for the exchange student's name. Gustav.

"We don't know the extent of his tampering. It'd be best if we never gave him a reason to show it."

Another nod from me, and he sighed, softly. His head tilted off, staring down the hall.

"Introductions, Kouki. The rest of the students shared them while you were asleep. If I've been successful in tracking the time - "

A static sound came from the ceiling above, and we both looked up to stare towards the source of it. Another monitor, which was previously offline. The image of Monokuma blinked onto it through the static, lounging atop a teacher's desk, a blackboard behind him. Said blackboard was almost totally covered in drawings of Monokuma himself, assuming various occupations.

"Goooooooooood morning, everyone! It's now 7 AM, so nighttime is officially over! Time to wave hello to another bright and shiny day!"

Monokuma began to hum and whistle to himself as the video feed faded out into static, and then blackness as it shut off. If I wanted something for my headache before, I _needed_ it now. I muttered an apology to Amadeus, before slinking back into my room and collecting my bottle of pills. When I returned to the hallway outside, Amadeus spoke without looking towards me.

"Everyone else should be leaving their rooms, within a few hours. I recommend that you trade introductions with the other students, as soon as you can."

I followed his gaze to the stairwell, trying to recall exactly where everything was. Maybe there was somewhere I could sprint off to, and get a good head-start on exploring. The room I'd assumed was a gym would've been a decent first stop, especially given that it was dead between a library and some kind of rec room. It should've attracted at least a few people, right?

Taking a deep breath along the way, I steeled myself and made my way to it, keeping my head down all the way. In my efforts to keep my mind occupied while traveling, I paid attention to the floors my eyes were practically studying. Checkered red-and-blue tiles in the basement, gradually draining of color as they reached the stairwell, whose steps were composed of metallic grating. Seems like the closet floors weren't the only ones like that. I guessed it was an addition of Monokuma's renovations.

It didn't take long for me to reach the set of three doors, and the halls felt almost unnervingly empty, devoid of any signs of life. I just tried to tell myself that it was just because people were already inside - and my suspicions were practically immediately confirmed by the sound of a heavy crash behind the door to the weight room, followed by someone giggling. Feminine. That marks at least two people. Seconds later, that became three, as I heard someone else speak. It was muffled through the door, but still recognizable enough.

Finn.

Well, more precisely, a bad falsetto poorly masking Finn's voice.

"Smooth move, idiot. Y'know, Virva? _I've_ never faceplanted on a treadmill."

More muffled, loud grumbling, followed by heavy stomping before the person who'd fallen reached the door. I took a step back from it, not sure which direction it swung to open - just in time to avoid getting totaled by it when it opened out. I spun back around, staring towards the one who'd opened the door: the man who'd been identified as just 'G' by Monokuma, the day prior. He was _big_ , but not in the same way that Kuro or even Ebicha were big. There wasn't much muscle in it, but he didn't look unhealthy.

The stare he gave me looked like he was trying to disassemble me into some base component parts with his eyes. It was analytical, precise. When he'd finished whatever weird distant inspection he was giving me, he extended a hand towards me, and said one word.

"Shake."

I wasn't about to tell him no. I gripped his hand weakly, and shook it. It didn't have the same strength in it as Kuro's, either. _G_ and I took a few steps back from the door, clearing space for Finn and Virva to exit, as well. The two of them stood next to each other, against the wall, her displaying much better posture than he did. _G_ was about an arm's distance away from them, and I took the chance to look over the three of them.

Finn, wearing a cheap pinkish jacket (the hood itself having been torn off) over a black t-shirt, and hair that looked like what would've happened if someone ran defective gel through mine - short, spiky and brown, but messy and unwashed, with the slightest hint of a green tint to it. My first guess, years ago, was that he used to give himself new hair colors alongside his guises, and eventually gave up. Whichever he'd used last just never totally washed clean.

Virva - I recalled her surname as Ashita from a talk-show I caught the back end of some months ago - had long, curly black hair that went about halfway down her back. She was _tall_ , noticeably so, wearing a white dress I just couldn't place the make of. Blue lines ran down the sides of it, which had a very slight, dim glow to them. Her eyes, too, were a piercing, cold blue.

And _G_. Red hair, cleanly cut into a bob, that just didn't seem to match the rest of his aesthetic. It looked a little like a school uniform _should_ , with a solid dozen extra pockets all across the front and around. Pencils, folded papers, graphing tools - he was a walking school armory of materials. Conspicuously absent was any form of calculator, as far as I could see. I'd think that with how prepared he obviously was, he would've brought _something_ of the sort.

Well. Amadeus _did_ recommend I traded some introductions around, didn't he? I started with _G_ , given that I didn't actually know his name, and he really could use a break. Used as an example by Monokuma the day before, eating dirt on a treadmill just now... I felt bad for him, and took a humble bow in his direction.

"Kouki Himada. I uh... don't have an Ultimate title, I was one of the students selected by lottery."

He nodded, slowly, and mirrored my action - a humble bow, to me.

"Gustav Cantor. Exchange student. Ultimate Mathematician."

 _Mathematician_? Without a calculator? My eyes once again skipped to his pockets, one after another, trying to find any sign of one - and he must've recognized what I was looking for, because he smirked.

"I've never needed one. I outgrew them when I was but a boy. This world is reducible to naught but ones and zeroes, questions and answers. Answers that cannot flee forever."

Slowly, my gaze turned to Virva and Finn, silently asking them if he was _always_ like this. Finn appeared to gather what I was asking, first, and he gave a very slow nod towards me. As I did so, Gustav continued speaking, and I felt his words would've been more appropriately delivered from atop a mechanical dragon, or while presiding over an ancient blood ritual.

"You see, Kouki, the universe is a collection of binary opposites. Opposites that I command, within the circuitry of my brain. All that is, and all that is not - boundaries between possibilities and impossibilities..."

Quietly, I muttered _got it_ to Gustav, and he appeared satisfied with that response. My attention drifted towards Virva, next.

"You're... Virva Ashita, right?"

She nodded.

"You're the girl from the future, right?"

Another, much more defeated looking nod, and I felt a twinge of sympathy shoot through me. This must've been the millionth time she had to answer that question. I looked away, seeking some retreat from the immediate awkwardness in Finn's face, and she replied.

"Ultimate Timewalker."

That felt like a... weird way to word her situation, but it wasn't my decision, and most likely, not hers, either. Come to think of it, Yuuki _had_ said that the title he'd been given wasn't the one he would've chose. Who scouted these people? Who chose their titles for them? How much research went into choosing them...? The Dean apparently isn't involved, either.

My mind kept coming back to the thought of the Headmaster - the true Headmaster. Just who was he, and why was it so important that Monokuma took drastic measures to prevent us from learning his _name_?

All of my fervent speculating was interrupted, however, as I heard Finn clear his throat.

"Aren't you going to ask _me_ for my introduction?"

Sweet god, that 'accent' was awful.

"And just _who_ are you, exactly?"

Finn took an overly dramatic bow, and I swear I saw his eyes skip up to Virva to make sure she was watching, before he gave... well, he sure gave _a_ name.

"Amore D'Amore, and isn't my _title_ obvious~?"

I think my eyes glazed over, but he continued on, regardless.

"The Ultimate Romantic."

Promptly, he took a second bow, and slipped a hand into one of his pockets while he did so - pulling out a plastic faux-rose in the same motion, and flipped it into the air with two fingers. My eyes followed it as it was thrown, and I saw Gustav snatch it, before he shoved it into one of his own pockets. He mumbled something about needing to examine it later, and I already felt my attention drifting away.

Something dragged me back, though. Sympathy. I motioned towards Virva, and she stepped closer to me. While Finn was too busy trying to get his plastic rose back from Gustav to notice, I whispered to her.

"That's... not his name. Or his title."

She craned her neck, slightly, with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Oh, I know. I wasn't born yesterday - I'm just playing along to see how far he goes with this."

I felt pretty dumb for not realizing that was the case, and I gave her a slow nod before we broke away, just in time for 'Amore' to offer me a handshake and a cheery smile. As he gripped my hand tightly, he leaned in closer.

"Don't ruin this for me, dude. I think I've got a shot here."

It's a wonder my eyes didn't pop out, what with how hard I rolled them, and Finn released my hand. I didn't feel ready to scour the weight room just yet, but I managed to peer past Gustav and through the crack in the door to give it a quick glance-over. I could see a wall of various size weights, two treadmills, and it was pretty clear this was just scratching the surface of it. It was fully featured.

As I turned around to move on further in the hall, I heard Virva wish me luck, and the three of them carried on in the opposite direction. I spun right back around, aiming myself off for the next door in the hall, and my eyes skipped up to the sign above it. A bowling ball. I wasn't about to just hang outside, this time - I pushed the door open, and took a confident step in.

The first thing that registered in my brain wasn't a sight, but a sound. Applause, from two different people, followed shortly after by a voice I couldn't put a name to.

"See? All in the wrist."

My eyes adjusted to a room lit by a dimmer red, courtesy of the striplights hanging from the ceiling. It certainly didn't _look_ like a bowling alley, it was more of a general games room. There was a pair of pool tables, boxes of board games I didn't recognize, and a few other sets of toys and games that probably should've belonged in a school for younger kids.

More pressingly, the trio of girls all lined up in front of a row of dartboards. The clapping from the two on the left and right eventually tapered off, and I swear I saw the girl in the middle flex. One by one, they turned around to look towards me, and as they did so I caught a glimpse of what had impressed two-thirds of them so much. A triple-bullseye, with a fourth dart stabbed into the end of one.

The girl from the left was the first to step forward and wave to me, holding a bright smile on her face. Green hair, asymmetrical and longer on her left, curling down around her shoulder. The right side was feathered, with a few streaks of a deeper blue. It was clearly dyed, but I wasn't certain with what. She wore three separate belts, two crossed over her chest in an X-formation, and only one where a belt actually belonged. Each hole held a little test tube, about half of them empty - fortunately, the ones placed precariously into the two upper belts were the bulk of the empty ones.

It was a hell of a fashion statement. She took sight of my gawking, and stopped abruptly.

"Chemist. Don't worry about 'em. Name's Midori, how 'bout you?"

Her voice was _fast._ It didn't seem hurried, though - I concluded that that was simply how she talked, like she _always_ had something better to do. And it wasn't hard to guess what. I gave my own introduction, in time for the third girl to finish inspecting me. Her outfit was clearly very formal, her glasses sharp, and her hair a deep silver. She already had begun trudging along to the door, and I spun around and grasped aimlessly for the air in her direction. Across her back, a black bag was slung, a zipper running down its side. It looked almost like a guitar case.

"Wait!"

She didn't meet my eyes, or stop. But, she _did_ at least give an explanation as she passed by and left, cursory as it was.

"Tsubasa. Ultimate Violinist."

I don't know why, but I swear I saw something in her eyes. A spark, like she recognized me.

Midori shot me another bright grin, with visible sharp teeth.

"Believe it or not, that's the most she's said all day. It's just been 'Violinist', 'sides that."

Finally, the girl with impeccable aim swiveled around, and I looked her over. Short, straight blonde hair, an eye-patch over her left eye, a grey duster, and a white scarf. A holster sat on her right arm, but I couldn't tell what it was attached to - and a gun rested inside it. The same style of handgun that Yuuki'd been totting around the day before --

A lightbulb might as well have gone up over my head, as I put two and two together.

"Oh. You're the Duelist, right? I'm Kouki."

She nodded, and drew both of her hands up behind her head, cracking her knuckles.

"Lieze. Quickdraw, Sniper, Markswoman. Any of those'd fit, too."

It's not something she mentioned, no, but from the voice alone I could tell she was another of the Exchange students. I wanted to guess that she was English, but I didn't recognize her first name as an English one, at least, not something common. As a bonus, she didn't _dress_ like I'd associate with an English person. She looked more like she fell out of a American western. Her scarf was even torn at the ends, and it appeared as if she dragged it through sand.

Maybe she's just really, really attached to the aesthetic.

"'ey. Got a question for you."

Before I could even blink, let alone ask what the question was, there was a blur of motion - and her gun was pressed up against my skull. Before the trigger was pulled, I closed my eyes, and saw my life flash before them.

Falling out of the tree behind my house when I was four. Getting a cat when I was six. That car accident when I was eight. The migraines starting at t-

Lieze cackled, and I felt the gun barrel fall away from its place against my forehead. I opened my eyes to see her practically crushed beneath a laughing fit, and Midori a step or two behind her looking _mildly_ disturbed. It felt pretty safe to guess that the same thing had happened to her. Lieze finally managed to take in a deep breath, getting a hold of herself, and she slipped the gun back into its holster on her arm.

"Whoo. If I'm counting right, that was about... oh-dot-thirty-three. Below average."

She shook her head, disapprovingly, but continued onward nonetheless!

"If this was loaded, you'd be dead. Gotta work on that reaction time."

I stuttered, staring down at my hands, shocked that I was still alive, still breathing. It took a while for me to find my voice.

"Was... was that the question?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I'll... uh. I'll - "

I stumbled out of the room, falling over myself. I looked up, and something greeted me: a person's hand. Grabbing for it, I politely thanked the person as I came back to my feet, before I saw who it was. Tsubasa. Did she wait outside for me? For a second time, I thanked her, and she spoke up.

"I had oh-twenty."

She turned on her heel, and set off down the hallway, in the direction of the basement floor. Did she stick around _just_ to flaunt that she was better than me? I gave one last look to the pair still in the games room, before I continued on my own quest, setting a hand to the door of the library. I listened intently against the door, trying to preemptively find whether or not I was about to interrupt something again. No sounds. I wasn't sure whether or not it was _actually_ that quiet, or, possibly, the library was soundproofed just as the bedrooms were.

Either way, I opened it carefully, anticipating a creaking sound that never arrived. Only silence. My eyes adjusted to a brighter light, and a room that didn't look like it should've fit in the hall. It was quite clearly _huge_. I took a step inside, watching my feet carefully, and heard the sound echo against the hardwood floor and up through the shelves, never seeming to find real purchase.

I looked up to see someone staring at me from across the room. The woman in the deerstalker and uniform from yesterday. We hadn't been introduced yet, but she seemed polite enough from the fleeting moments I'd seen her. She carefully stood up - managing to generate much less noise than I did - and I felt her stare flick over my entire figure, scrutinizing me. Even though she didn't lay a finger on me, it managed to feel invasive. My mouth opened, and she took charge before I could.

Maybe someday people will stop interrupting me.

"You came into this library to introduce yourself to everyone, as you missed the big meet-and-greet yesterday evening. Your face tensed when I began speaking, so you're accustomed to sudden interjections, but you don't approve of them. You're about to, almost reflexively - "

We both spoke at once, my voice a frustrated line beneath her more patient one.

"Try to cut me off." "Try to cut you off."

She smirked, setting two fingers on her left hand against the side of her face, and I stared into her green eyes as she finished.

"And now you'll give me my title. You're not half-bad at picking up on the cues."

I barely managed to suppress a groan, before I did as she asked - or predicted, whichever's closer.

"Ultimate Detective."

"And don't you forget it."

The Detective turned away, facing towards another part of the library, but her head tilted off to look towards me. She had to have realized she left something out of that introduction.

"Naomi. Oh, and... for your information."

I'd been following her gaze, but looked over just in time to catch the end of an even sharper smile.

"You don't have a chance with her."

My eyes narrowed. Before I got the chance to complain, she was waving for someone else to join her from deeper into the library. Ebicha's voice bounded down, echoing just as my footsteps had.

"On my way - "

When he saw me, he stopped. Him and I locked eyes. I put on the brightest smile I could manage, eager to try and put myself on his good side, and offered out my hand. He didn't even look down at it, before he gave an actual introduction, since he couldn't have known that I already knew his name.

"Dai. Ultimate Getaway."

Safe to assume that's a nickname. _Dai_ growled, quietly, and looked away from me and towards Naomi.

"...Party's over. Let's take this somewhere else."

She grinned, grabbing for his hand, and the two of them left the library without another word towards me. What the hell was that all about?

I trailed down the library hall, my hand tracing along the shelves as I walked. My eyes scanned some of the book titles that I passed by, and I didn't recognize most of the ones I'd seen, but I could tell the primary genre that this place was stocked with: mystery novels. I'm not sure what I expected, given how Monokuma operated. Speaking of which, there were a number of books whose covers and other identifying details had been stripped, save for title and an image of the bear himself.

As I came to a stop, my fingers wrapped around one of the books which hadn't been cleaned of information, and just as I pulled for it -

"Not one of my favorites. It felt to me that it was trying to cover for a lack of plot with a lack of clarity. It's exactly what I'd expect from a ' _man who_ _daydreams too much_ '."

A younger girl with black hair spoke to me from the corner of the library, sitting in a red chair with a stack of books at her side. White clothes, sharply dressed, and two separate sets of glasses on her face, one smaller and resting above the other. At her implicit recommendation, I pushed the book back into place, and approached. As I walked, I already gave my brief introduction. Name, lack of real title...

We shook hands - hers clad in a glove - and she reciprocated. She sounded quiet, and I immediately got the impression that she was someone who preferred to fade into the background.

"Maya. They have me penned down as Poet."

I rose an eyebrow, confused at how she'd worded that.

"I'm not sure if it's appropriate."

Although I asked for more details, she didn't elaborate or even respond. She just pushed on to a different subject.

"There's nobody else in the library, sorry. Two others were here, earlier, but they went back to the entrance room to try figuring anything else out."

I thanked her for her help, and respectfully left the library, not intent on taking up anymore of her time. I did, however, make a mental note to talk to her again at some point when she's less busy reading. She just had a comforting air around her.

Soon after, I'd made my way to the entrance room where we'd had all met the day before. Ahead of me, the pair of people Maya had mentioned were busy inspecting the numerous interior locks over the exit. One of them - a shorter boy wearing an all-black outfit - was busy taking note of the various parts of the locks using a tape measure, and I could assume he was reading his assessments out to the girl leaning against the wall.

Stark white hair, divided into two flowing tails that were about as long as the rest of her, with the tip of a billhook visible from over her shoulder, the tool itself strapped against her back. A clipboard was held in her left hand, along with a pencil in her right, scribbling down whatever information on measurements had been given to her. She was much louder than he was, while checking her work.

"Three-quarters of a meter across one bulkhead, makes about five feet of on each cross, not counting depth..."

When I approached, the boy turned around, and I knew he recognized me. His eyes narrowed, and he shoved the tape measure back into his front pocket, alongside a small hammer and a few other tools. There was gravel in his voice, and I could tell he was speaking through grit teeth.

"Himada. It's... uh..."

His hand braced tightly around the metal head of the hammer, but he managed to steel himself.

"Been. A while. Hasn't it?"

"Isamu."

The girl could sense the tension in the air, and instinctively took a step away from him as the two of us stared each other down. I heard her murmur something, as she did so -

"Who's he?"  
  
He looked away from me, briefly, and gave her his... colored, explanation of who I was, before I could.

"Asshole. Total asshole. He's a scumbag, a fucking snitch, and..."

I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump, and his hand relaxed around the hammerhead.

"Some other time. We'll finish this some other time."

Isamu shot me a death-glare as he left the entrance room, and I couldn't say it was unwarranted. The girl was less than enthusiastic about being turned into his impromptu platform to vent about how much I suck, standing up perfectly straight as the awkwardness slowly - painfully slowly - fled from her expression.

"The hell was that about?"

How do I keep it short?

"...Bad blood. Old friends. Not... not anymore."

She might not have been satisfied with that answer, but she was capable of dropping it, for now. It was her turn to give her name and such, now that Isamu had, effectively, given one in my place.

"Chiyo. Explorer. And I've gotta say? I don't know why everybody else's in such a bad mood about this."

The clipboard went over her shoulder, lazily tossed aside, and it clattered to the floor. I must've been clearly bewildered, because she kept going without prompting.

"This place has been _great_. There's so many little hidey holes, the view on the ski lift up was _rad_ , and when those gates around the stairs screw off there'll be even more cool stuff to look at upstairs!"

There was an undeniable energy in her voice, and it reminded me of Midori, to a degree. Bad timing, though, because I started to feel that pulse of pain in my head, that pressure to get moving and get a pill from my bottle before it got worse. I couldn't be sure why, but it seemed to be hurting a lot faster than it should've, and she was too invested in her praise for Mercy's Watch to notice my hands pressing against my temples.

"I've been in a heck of a lot of places. Mountains, caves, _underwater_ caves - no underwater mountains, though - and I've gotta say? Great frickin' location, here. This place is truly one-of-a-kind. There's nowhere else like it on Earth."

I fought through the escalating pain, clinging onto a rogue thought that snaked its way into my mind. _Something_ dawned on me, something that she'd said had tripped something up.

"...Nowhere?"

She eyed me with suspicion, and more than an ounce of concern. With the back of her hand, she pushed herself off the wall, stepping closer to me and very hesitantly reaching towards my shoulders. Still, she questioned me.

"Did you think of somewhere?"

I _knew_ I did. I don't know _why_ I did, but I knew I did. There was somewhere else like this school in the world, wasn't there? Somewhere... else. Just what was it called?

Her voice felt increasingly distant from me, like it was echoing down the hall. Dizziness threatened to swallow me whole, but I had to fight it. I _had to_.

"Hey. Are you doing alright, dude? You look kinda - "

Pain became overwhelming. My vision started to fade, only catching the sight of her increasing panic. I couldn't stop myself from thinking. This had to be something else the bear was keeping me from. _It just had to be._

The Headmaster's name. The other school.

I felt myself falling, and I saw her shouting out for help. Everything went black.

* * *

I opened my eyes, and I saw daylight.


End file.
